■ Air fuel tax delayed
Air-travel fuel surcharges due to be introduced today by local carriers were yesterday postponed until July 1 by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Under the new deadline, both China Airlines (華航) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮) will begin charging an extra US$5 per flight for travel within Asia and US$13 for travel outside of Asia next month instead of today as planned.
In addition, Trans Asia Airways Corp (復興), Mandarin Airlines (華信), UNI Airways (立榮) and Far Eastern Air Transport Co (遠東) have also been approved to impose a US$5 fuel surcharge on travel within Asia.
International carriers, including Cathay Pacific Airways, Singapore Airlines, Dragonair and Malaysia Airlines will begin imposing surcharges today as planned, while Thai Airways International started yesterday.
In addition, Vietnam Airlines and Philippine Airlines have also been authorized to begin collecting fuel surcharges of US$5 for travel within Asia beginning this Monday.
■ Karaoke merger not OK
The nation's two largest karaoke chains -- Holiday Entertainment Co (好樂迪娛樂事業) and Cash Box KTV (錢櫃) -- announced that a proposed merger plan had been canceled after their respective shareholder meetings yesterday.
They also signed a termination agreement, putting an end to the many disputes that stemmed from the merger proposal.
The two operators began merger negotiations in late 2002 after competition between them undermined profits. But the deal raised fears of a monopoly for local music distributors in karaoke parlors.
■ Lending ceiling raised
The Ministry of Finance yesterday relaxed credit policies for locally-based foreign banks, doubling the lending ceiling for each institutional client from NT$1 billion to NT$2 billion for banks whose working capital exceeds NT$300 million.
Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧), deputy director-general of the ministry's Bureau of Monetary Affairs, yesterday said 26 of the nation's 37 foreign banks could benefit from the new policy since their net assets or working capital exceeded NT$300 million. The remaining 11 foreign banks, whose working capital is below NT$300 million, however, are still restricted by the current ceiling of NT$1 billion for each institutional client.
■ Formosa expansion delayed
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) and affiliate companies were forced to delay completion of a NT$124.6 billion (US$3.7 billion) plant expansion in Taiwan by 10 months to October 2006, a Chinese-language newspaper said, citing Formosa Group vice chairman Wang Yung-tsai (王永在).
Formosa blamed a shortage of overseas workers caused by a disagreement the company had with the Council of Labor Affairs over its labor quota, the report said.
The expansion requires 19,301 workers, the report said.
■ Central bank upbeat on growth
The central bank plans to increase the upper end of its expectations for money supply growth, which has exceeded forecasts for four months, a Chinese-language paper said.
The central bank may raise the upper end of its M2 outlook by as much as 2 percentage points and announce the new forecast after the bank's quarterly policy meeting next Thursday, the newspaper said.
■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose against its US counterpart after US government data showed the US trade deficit swelled unexpectedly in April.
The dollar rose NT$0.040 to close at NT$33.696 against the greenback on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$539 million.
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